Kirit Patel is new Congress whip in Assembly

The Congress has appointed Patan MLA Kirit Patel as the party’s whip in the Gujarat Assembly. The All India Congress Committee (AICC) has communicated the decision to Congress Legislative Party leader Amit Chavda in a letter on Tuesday.

The appointment of Patel, a two-time Congress MLA and a professor by profession, was necessitated after the previous whip — Vijapur MLA C J Chavda — resigned from the Assembly last month. He had stepped down as the party MLA on January 19 over the Congress’s stand on the consecration event of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22. Speculations are also rife that he will join the BJP soon.

With Chavda’s resignation, the Congress has only 15 MLAs in the Assembly.